A King is Born on the Road

Iris woke up early in the morning and, as soon as she opened her eyes, she checked whether Hayer was still sleeping.

Hayer didn’t even toss and turn even though the Knights went out training loudly. He was a person who slept beautifully without any sleeping habits.

When all the Knights went out, instantly only the servants and butler Woods, who didn’t like her very much, remained in the accommodation.

“I have to clean up today, but it’s a hassle with the princess here.”

As Woods said without hesitation, Iris had no choice but to leave the accommodation and wander around.

In any case, she planned to stay here and go to the Kawat village for about a day.

Luwan absolutely needed the power of the Kawats. And fortunately, thanks to the help of Hayer and the Knights, they had a little favour towards Luwan.

Originally, the Kawats considered themselves as Kawat people, not Luwan people, no matter how much the area belonged to the country of Luwan on the map.

Iris thought of the distrust as natural.

For religious reasons, the Luwans did not treat the pagans who entered their land as human beings.

The Kawat village was not far from the training ground.

The Kawats had a doctrine that in the place where God had left them, they should work to protect the sacred tree to ascend to nirvana. That’s why the sacred tree was valued more to them than other religions on the continent, even the Luwans, who believed in the god Tilla.

Sometimes, among the priests of Luwan, they would wrongly say that what the Kawats believed in is wood.

Standing at the entrance of the village, it seemed clear that the Kawats valued trees. Large and small trees were growing here and there, and houses were built either by avoiding or surrounding the trees.

Some of the houses felt dangerous to Iris. They were houses that looked like they would collapse if the trees grew any more. But they would be much more aware of the dangers than she.

Iris wondered if the Kawats accepted the danger.

At the entrance of the village, she hesitated whether to go inside or not.

Then the Kawat children who were playing under the tree came running.

“What are you doing?”

“What are you doing here!”

“What are you watching?”

Six children asked at the same time, so Iris was a little distracted before opening her mouth.

“I’m thinking about whether I can go in.”

“Go in!”

“Can’t you go in?”

“Why can’t you go in?”

“It’s a squirrel!”

The conversation was not easy. It was especially difficult for Iris to blend in with this situation, as she never had a conversation with a child in her life.

She thought about what to say to the children so that they wouldn’t be disappointed, but a girl grabbed Iris’s arm and pulled her.

“I’ll show you something fun!”

“Something fun?”

Crossing the village without hesitation, she became a person who entered the pagan village without fail. She thought that maybe she was the first Lepos to enter a pagan village.

The girl dragged Iris and took her somewhere. Then, she stilled and pointed to the sky.

“The sky is square!”

At the child’s words, Iris looked up. By chance, the branches of two trees overlapped, trapping the sky in a square shape.

Iris had never seen anyone so amused by such trivial things in her life.

Iris said, looking up at the square sky.

“That’s incredible.”

“Right? Isn’t it amazing?”

“Yes. The sky is amazing, but you’re also amazing for finding something like this.”

The girl smiled shyly at her words.

Thanks to the square sky, Iris was able to relax, forgetting that she had entered a pagan village.

Then the girl shouted.

“Sister! Come here!”

“What are you doing… Oh dear.”

The girl’s older sister recognized Iris and hurriedly hid her sister behind her back. Soon after, she checked where Iris was standing and asked in a panic.

“No, did the Princess of Luwan come all this way?”

“Ah… yes. One thing led to another.”

“By any chance… Are you, uh, crazy?”

The girl’s sister, Freya, who had been picking and choosing her words, eventually uttered her thoughts.

Iris laughed and shook her head.

“Probably not.”

Then the girl shouted in a confident voice.

“I brought her! She was thinking about whether to come in from there or not! I wanted to show her something amazing!”

“Gosh, stay still.”

“I’m not going to stay still!”

After the girl said that, she laughed and ran to her friends.

Freya said, covering her head with her hands.

“She’s the youngest, and in between, I have four younger siblings. I’m going crazy for the rest of my life because of this.”

“Are there six siblings?”

“Yes, that’s what happened.”

Freya glanced at her basket. Then she sighed and picked up something like inflated dough in it, as if she couldn’t help it.

“Ah, since I saw you again, how can I not give it to you?”

“What is this?”

“It’s bread made of barley.”

“Oh, it’s my first time seeing it.”

Iris was amazed and immediately took a bite of the barley bread. There was honey in it.

“Wow. Oh my gosh.”

As Iris admired it, Freya said with the same confident expression the girl had earlier.

“It’s delicious, right? Honey is so common here, so we put honey in everything, whether it’s a meal or a snack. We’re used to it, but it’ll be especially tasty for those who’ve never tried it before.”

“It’s delicious, really… Moreover, how did you recognize me?”

“Ah, that…”

Freya couldn’t answer right away, fiddling with the basket. This time it was the same shy face the girl had earlier.

“Umm, because. The Knights of Tejas.”

“…Do you have a lover?”

“Ahh, what do you mean by lover? I just– got to– know someone. That’s it, well.”

Iris hesitated for a long time at Freya’s prim words, but eventually she couldn’t hold it in.

“Can you tell me? How did you meet, things like that.”

“What are you going to do when you hear it?”

“I wonder. How people meet and fall in love.”

“So! I’m not in love!”

Freya’s face grew red and her voice rose, and then she continued.

“Anyway, there are adults who are building the shrine. Let’s talk as we go.”

Although there is no woman of the same age in the neighbourhood to share this story with, it was also a difficult story to share with the villagers in the first place.

All the villagers held favour toward the Tejas Knights, so they accepted their love affair for now, but it was clear that they would not allow love counselling.

Iris followed Freya and listened to her love story.

Freya was in love with a man named Don of the Knights of Tejas. Iris fell in love with the story of the two people who were sweeter than the honey she was eating.

Freya, who was talking so happily, soon sighed. It was because she was aware of the reality.

“But anyway… it won’t work for us.”

“Why… ah.”

Iris, who recalled that she was a pagan, nodded.

Still, as they walked along the street and talked together, even though she was a Kawat, she didn’t seem to be much different from herself except for her slightly different way of speaking.

The two soon arrived in front of the shrine. The villagers who were building the shrine in front of her welcomed Freya.

“Why didn’t you just come? What did you even bake bread for?”

“Oh my, thank you.”

Freya put down her basket and put on the apron she had prepared.

“I made too many and brought it. You know, we have a lot of kids in our house, so whatever we make, it’s a lot.”

Freya said and took the paint. Then she stepped up on a ladder and started painting trees on one wall of the shrine.

According to Hayer, there were about eight Kawat villages in the mountains. They were all initially wary of the fact that Luwan’s knights had come this far, but not now.

Those who fled as the village became a mess by the monsters, regained their homeland with the help of the Tejas Knights and were in the process of restoring them one by one.

The Kawats used specially chosen trees in their construction. In addition to not cutting down trees recklessly, the original shape was preserved as much as possible when used as building materials. It was to minimize the part of the tree that was thrown away.

And it was Freya’s job to paint murals on unruly wooden walls.

Iris murmured, looking up at the wall.

“Incredible.”

Freya smiled happily at the remark.

“Yes, I am incredible.”

Freya was a great painter. She slowly filled the wall, and Iris was staring at Freya’s painting, losing track of time.

Then someone appeared where they were. It was Don, who had fallen in love with Freya.

afterword

this chapter is def a skim but dw they’ll head to the royal palace very very soon, also i’ll just add the next button when i add the next chapter so it feels less like a scam lol